Here, Sports Mole picks out its Champions League team of the week for the penultimate matchday of the group stages.

Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois made five saves en route to a clean sheet in his side's 2-0 win over Roma at the Stadio Olimpico to earn a place in this team ahead of David de Gea, who had much less to do at home to Young Boys but did pull off a remarkable stop which was crucial to his side's 1-0 victory.

Joshua Kimmich picked up a couple of assists as Bayern trounced Benfica, and while he featured in midfield in that match, his versatility and a lack of competition at right-back enables him to switch position for this XI.

Indeed, it is a defence which shone in attack this week, with Shakhtar's Ismaily opening the scoring and providing an assist in the thrilling 3-2 win over Hoffenheim, while Eder Militao was also on the scoresheet during Porto's win over Schalke.

Koulibaly is joined by two of his teammates in front of him, with Marek Hamsik registering a goal, assist and 92% passing accuracy while Allan made a game-high eight tackles alongside him in the middle of the park - enough to hold off a challenge from Manchester United's match-winner Marouane Fellaini.

There was huge competition for the forward positions, with two-goal duo Arjen Robben and Dusan Tadic both unfortunate to miss out, while Franck Ribery also deserves a mention for getting on the scoresheet in Bayern's win over Benfica.

Lyon's Maxwell Cornet proved to be the scourge of Manchester City once again with a brace which earned his side a point, while he also hit the woodwork as Lyon caused the Premier League champions serious problems for the second time this season.

Lionel Messi scored another stunning solo effort to take him to 106 Champions League goals for Barcelona - the most any player has ever scored for a single club in the competition - before adding an assist for Pique's goal in the win over PSV Eindhoven.

Arguably the standout performance over the two days came from Shakhtar's Taison, though, as he scored twice - including a 91st-minute winner - created his side's other goal and hit the woodwork during the away win over Hoffenheim.

While Robben and Ribery are unfortunate to miss out on the team, Bayern do have Robert Lewandowski leading the line after his brace helped fire them past Benfica. The Polish international's first of the night was his 50th in the Champions League, with only Messi and Ruud van Nistelrooy having reached that milestone in fewer games.